


I'll Be Home for Christmas

by magnusbicon



Series: Christmas Prompts [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec is so in love, Established Relationship, M/M, Snow, Snowball Fight, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, soft boyfriends, the sappiness is almost painful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 07:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13026300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnusbicon/pseuds/magnusbicon
Summary: malec + the first snow of the season





	I'll Be Home for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I feel irrationally clever for this title. Sue me. :•)

Alec was about two seconds away from resorting to banging his head against the wall until he passed out. He had been doing paperwork all day, and he was pretty sure he would lose all of his brain cells- and his fingers- if he continued to fill out those forms. He was tired and hungry and very much ready to jump into Magnus' arms the second he got home, so the surge of frustration that rushed through him when a knock sounded on his office door nearly drove him to insanity. He considered not answering it for a moment, but then he realized that paperwork aside, he really did love his job and he didn't want to lose it over his irrational stubbornness. 

"Come in," he called, bracing himself for whatever disaster had inevitably just occurred. The door opened slowly, and he came extremely close to breaking down in tears of relief when he saw that it was Magnus who was peeking his head in. Within seconds he was up out of his chair and across the room, pulling his boyfriend inside and pressing him up against the door. Magnus' lips were cold but soft against Alec's, and for a moment he forgot about every single one of his worries, letting the feeling of his boyfriend's body against his own erase the rest of the world for a moment. 

Magnus drew back first, a smile spreading across his lips as their gazes met, and his fingers splayed across Alec's chest where his hand had landed when he was pulled into the room. His eyes were brighter than usual, as though he was particularly excited about something, and Alec's heart rate kicked up a notch, warmth radiating in his stomach at the sight. Magnus was his beacon of hope, his lighthouse that never stopped guiding him where he needed to go, and Alec swore that he would never tire of seeing the way his boyfriend shined. 

"Well hello to you, too," Magnus said, his voice smooth with an undertone of something close to impatience. "I thought I would come drag you out of your office so that you didn't stay up half the night driving yourself insane with Clave formalities, but it seems that you wanted to drag me in instead." 

Alec narrowed his eyes at him, trying and miserably failing to hold back a grin from forming on his face. Magnus looked back at him with amusement, an eyebrow raised expectantly, and it was just then that Alec noticed that his cheeks were flushed. He reached out, pressing the back of his hand to the side of Magnus' face, and tilted his head. 

"Did you not portal here?" he asked, cupping his boyfriend's cheeks in both of his hands in an attempt to warm him up. "You must be freezing."

Magnus shook his head slightly, the twinkle in his eye so captivating that Alec never wanted to look away. "I am perfectly capable of keeping myself warm, Alexander, but I wouldn't mind you adding to my efforts and walking home with me." 

Home. For so long Alec never had a place that felt like home. He lived in the Institute, was raised there, but it was never somewhere that he felt he could relax in. There was always commotion, training to do, a mission to complete. Home was supposed to be the one place where you could set down your worries and put your feet up, and the Institute had never been that place. Alec wouldn't even say that the loft was home either, because really, Magnus was Alec's home. He was the person who made Alec feel more comfortable in his own skin, the one who encouraged him to see past the Clave's prejudices and be better. Magnus had not only provided him with a home, but he helped him find a home in  _himself_. 

Alec glanced back at his desk for just a second, debating whether or not he should leave, but then Isabelle's voice surfaced in his memory.

_"You can't keep taking everything onto your shoulders, Alec. It's okay to take a break every once in a while, to have some fun."_

Taking a deep breath, Alec turned back to his boyfriend and smiled, nodding in approval. "Let's go." 

* * *

The ground was covered in a thick layer of snow, and Alec's mouth dropped open. He had no idea it was even supposed to snow that day, and he hadn't been out of his office once in the last 12 hours, so he wasn't aware that it was happening at all. It was the first of the season, and although he had never been a huge fan of snow, he understood the appeal for mundanes. It was a reason for them to get together, to have snowball fights, build snowmen, make snow angels- though he wanted to tell them that they looked nothing like angels. 

Deep down he had always envied them for being able to do those things. They were so carefree and oblivious to the real dangers that the world contained. For the most part, he was glad to be able to do his part and rid the world of the demons that plagued it, but on days like this, when he was exhausted and overworked, he imagined what being a mundane would be like. Maybe he would have bumped into Magnus on the street, or met him at a work party. He had no doubt that whatever universe or dimension they lived in, they would've ended up together. 

Just as his mind began to dive deeper into various ways Magnus and him could have met, something slammed into his back. He whirled around, his bow already in hand, before he realized that Magnus was bent over laughing, remnants of snow left on his hand where he had just been holding it. He took one look at Alec's dumbfounded expression and began to laugh even harder, barely holding himself up. 

"Did you just throw a snowball at me?" Alec asked, already knowing full well what the answer was. 

"You seemed distracted," Magnus said in between chuckles. "I figured I'd help reign you in." 

Alec stared at him for a moment as he laughed, pushing down the fondness in his chest, then bent down and gathered up a handful of snow, compacting it slowly. Magnus stopped laughing then, a smirk forming on his face. 

"You really wanna start this?" he asked, raising his hands and allowing blue wisps of magic to flow over his fingers.

"No magic," Alec said, pointing accusingly. "That's cheating." Magnus narrowed his eyes, considering, then extinguished his magic. 

"Fine." He sighed, a mock put-off look on his face. "I'm still going to ruin you, though."

Alec didn't waste any more time, chucking the snowball and hitting his boyfriend square in the chest. Magnus gasped, shocked for one second, before he began to gather up more snow, and Alec did the same. It went on for a long time, neither of them missing and both of them just as determined to win as the other. It wasn't until Alec slipped and fell flat on his back that he admitted defeat, and he couldn't find it in himself to care about the smug expression on Magnus' face as he flopped down beside him. A lot of people thought that the snow was beautiful, but it could never compare to the sight of Magnus Bane, nose and cheeks red, hair wet and drooping, makeup just a little bit smudged. He was the epitome of beauty and power, a force to be reckoned with, and Alec was so in love with him that even after all this time he still had no idea how to handle all of the emotions that his boyfriend evoked inside of him. 

"Rematch?" Alec whispered, breaking the rare silence that seemed to fall over the city due to the snow. He felt like the cold couldn't reach him in that moment, with Magnus' shoulder brushing against his as they laid there. Magnus reached over and intertwined their fingers, and Alec could feel his magic seeping into his bones, anchoring him and widening his smile. 

"In your dreams," Magnus joked.

Alec couldn't argue with that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come chat on tumblr: magnusbicon!


End file.
